Feed: Feds have no records IDing owners of 100,000 airplanes - AggScore: 12.9

Feds have no records IDing owners of 100,000 airplanes

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blockquoteemWhile constantly passing new gun and ammunition laws and maintaining extensive records of gunowners throughout the nation, the U.S. government admitted that it failed to maintain records of ownership of tens of thousands of airplanes.emblockquotecaption id alignalignleft width210 captionWhile airline passengers are practically stripsearched in US airports, the FAA doesn39t know who owns and flies more than 100,000 aircraft. Photo Police Timesimg srchttpcdn2b.examiner.comsitesdefaultfilesstyleslargehashc683airport20screening0.jpg altWhile airline passengers are practically stripsearched in US airports, the FAA doesnt know who owns and flies more than 100,000 aircraft. Photo Police Times width210 height170 captionThe scandalplagued federal agency Federal Aviation Administration thatlet terrorists on the FBIs Ten Most Wanted List keep their pilot license has no clue who owns more than 100,000 of the nations airplanes, creating a national security threat of epic proportions, according to a leading publicinterest, watchdog group based in the nations capital.divAccording to a Judicial Watch report, officials at the notoriously inept FAA actually admit that they fear the gap could be exploited by terrorists and drug traffickers. The agency in charge of aviation safety is missing key information on more than onethird of the countrys 357,000 private and commercial planes, even though federal law requires all U.S. aircraft to be registered with the FAA and carry the registration certificate on board each and every plane.divdivdivdivThe crisis has been building for decades, according to theFox News Channel.A Fox report says that the FAAs records are in such disarray that the agency worries criminals and terrorists could purchase planes without the governments knowledge. Registration numbers could also be fraudulently used to evade new computer systems that track suspicious flights, which has already happened.divdivThe deficient record keeping has allowed drug traffickers to use phony U.S. registration numbers and led police on wild goose chases where the wrong plane gets raided in the course of an investigation. The FAA claims the problem should be largely solved in about three years by implementing a registration process similar to the one in effect for automobiles, according to Judicial Watch.divdivThis sort of incompetence is par for the course for the FAA, which has come under fire for its many gaffes in the last few years. Last summer, Judicial Watchreported that at least six men suspected or convicted of terrorism including two on the FBIs Ten Most Wanted List were allowed to keep their aviation license.divdivdivdivAmong them was a Libyan sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison by a Scottish court for the 1980s bombing of an American airliner, two men Abdel Basset Ali AlMegrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhima wanted by the FBI for the 1988 Lockerbie airline bombing, an Iranian convicted of trying to ship jet fighter parts to Iran and a Lebanese living in Michigan who was convicted for trying to provide military equipment to the Muslim terrorist group Hezbollah.divdivdivdivAlso last year, according to Judicial Watch, a report revealed that the FAA has for decades licensed airline mechanics that are unable to read manuals for the sophisticated aircraft they work on or document repairs on a mandatory log because they cant speak English.divdivdivdivA few weeks later the Transportation Departments Inspector General divulged that hackers systematically break into the FAAs crucial air traffic control systems, repeatedly endangering the public.div